1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote diagnosis system which transmits, to a medical institution, physical information obtained from a patient at a location (e.g., patient""s home) remote from the medical institution, so that a doctor at the medical institution makes, based on the transmitted physical information, a medical diagnosis on the patient.
2. Related Art Statement
Japanese Patent Document No. 10-143573 discloses a remote diagnosis system which includes a physical-information obtaining device that is placed in a house of a patient and obtains physical information (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, etc.) from the patient and which transmits the obtained physical information to a doctor-side terminal device that is placed in a medical institution (e.g., hospital, doctor""s office, etc.) remote from the patient""s house. The prior remote diagnosis system additionally includes a preliminary-diagnosis device which automatically makes a preliminary diagnosis about the physical information, before the physical information is transmitted to the medical institution.
More specifically described, the preliminary-diagnosis device makes a preliminary diagnosis by judging whether the physical information obtained from the patient is greater than a threshold value, and selects, from a plurality of doctor-side terminal devices assigned to a plurality of doctors, one doctor-side terminal device assigned to one doctor who is suitable for making a proper diagnosis based on the physical information and the preliminary diagnosis, so that the remote diagnosis system transmits the physical information to the selected doctor-side terminal device. Thus, the preliminary diagnosis is utilized to transmit the physical information to the suitable doctor who can make a correct diagnosis on the patient. In addition, when the preliminary diagnosis indicates that the physical information is obviously normal and the patient does not need a proper diagnosis by a doctor, the remote diagnosis system does not transmit the physical information to any doctor-side terminal devices. Thus, a total amount of physical information transmitted to each doctor is decreased, and each doctor can more quickly make a proper diagnosis about the thus decreased amount of physical information only.
Thus, in the case where the preliminary-diagnosis device makes respective xe2x80x9cabnormalityxe2x80x9d preliminary diagnoses about different sorts of physical information, the prior remote diagnosis system transmits the different sorts of physical information to different doctor-side terminal devices assigned to different doctors who are suitable for diagnosing the different sorts of physical information, respectively. However, in the case where the preliminary-diagnosis device makes respective xe2x80x9cabnormalityxe2x80x9d preliminary diagnoses about different pieces of physical information of one sort, the prior remote diagnosis system transmits all the different pieces of physical information to one and same doctor-side terminal device assigned to one and same doctor who is suitable for diagnosing the one sort of physical information. This largely limits the degree of freedom of choice of the patient who could freely go and see any one of a plurality of doctors at a plurality of medical institutions. In addition, since only one doctor makes a final diagnosis about each piece of physical information, the final diagnosis may not be sufficiently accurate or reliable.
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a remote diagnosis system which includes a plurality of doctor-side devices any one of which can be selected by a patient.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a remote diagnosis system which includes a plurality of doctor-side devices which can provide a patient with accurate or reliable diagnoses.
Each of the above objects has been achieved by the present invention. According to a first feature of the present invention, there is provided a remote diagnosis system comprising at least one patient-side device including at least one physical-information obtaining device which obtains at least one piece of current physical information from at least one patient; a plurality of doctor-side devices which are provided in a plurality of medical institutions, respectively, that are remote from the patient-side device and each of which can receive the piece of current physical information of the patient from the patient-side device; a preliminary-diagnosis means for making, based on the piece of current physical information obtained by the physical-information obtaining device, a preliminary diagnosis about whether the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor; and a physical-information transmitting means for transmitting, when the preliminary-diagnosis means makes a preliminary diagnosis that the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor, the piece of current physical information to at least one doctor-side device of the plurality of doctor-side devices that has been selected by the patient.
In the present remote diagnosis system, when the preliminary-diagnosis means makes a preliminary diagnosis that the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor, the physical-information transmitting means transmits the piece of current physical information obtained by the physical-information obtaining device, to one or more doctor-side devices of the plurality of doctor-side devices that have been selected by the patient. Thus, as in the case where the patient actually goes and sees one or more doctors at one or more medical institutions out of a number of medical institutions, the physical information obtained from the patient is transmitted to one or more doctor-side devices selected by the patient out of the plurality of doctor-side devices, so that the physical information or the patient is diagnosed by one doctor before the one doctor-side device, or each of two or more doctors before the two or more doctor-side devices.
According to a second feature of the present invention, there is provided a remote diagnosis system comprising at least one patient-side device including at least one physical-information obtaining device which obtains at least one piece of current physical information from at least one patient; a plurality of doctor-side devices which are provided in a plurality of medical institutions, respectively, that are remote from the patient-side device and each of which can receive the piece of current physical information of the patient from the patient-side device; a preliminary-diagnosis means for making, based on the piece of current physical information obtained by the physical-information obtaining device, a preliminary diagnosis about whether the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor; and a physical-information transmitting means for transmitting, when the preliminary-diagnosis means makes a preliminary diagnosis that the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor, the piece of current physical information to each of the plurality of doctor-side devices.
In the present remote diagnosis system, when the preliminary-diagnosis means makes a preliminary diagnosis that the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor, the physical-information transmitting means transmits the piece of current physical information obtained by the physical-information obtaining device, to each of of the plurality of doctor-side devices. Since the physical information obtained from the patient is transmitted to the plurality of doctor-side devices provided at the plurality of medical institutions, the physical information or the patient can be accurately or reliably diagnosed by two or more doctors before the two or more doctor-side devices.
According to a third feature of the present invention, the preliminary-diagnosis means comprises means for judging whether the piece of current physical information falls within a first reference range, and means for making, when it is judged that the piece of current physical information does not fall within the first reference range, a preliminary diagnosis that the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor, and each of the doctor-side devices comprises a reference-range changing means for transmitting, to the preliminary-diagnosis means, a second reference range and changing the first reference range to the second reference range, so that the preliminary-diagnosis means judges whether the piece of current physical information falls within the second reference range.
In the present remote diagnosis system, a doctor before each doctors-side device can operate the reference-range changing means to change the current reference range to a more appropriate reference range, so that the preliminary-diagnosis means judges whether each piece of physical information falls within the more appropriate reference range. Therefore, the preliminary-diagnosis means can make a more accurate preliminary diagnosis. This leads to reducing the overall load exerted to each doctor and promoting each doctor to make more quickly a proper diagnosis on only the physical information judged as being abnormal by the preliminary-diagnosis means.
According to a fourth feature of the present invention, the preliminary-diagnosis means comprises means for judging whether the piece of current physical information falls within a first reference range proper for the patient; means for making, when it is judged that the piece of current physical information does not fall within the first reference range, a preliminary diagnosis that the patient needs a proper diagnosis to be made by a doctor; and a memory device which stores a plurality of first reference ranges respectively proper for a plurality of patients including the patient.
In the present remote diagnosis system, the preliminary-diagnosis means can make a more accurate preliminary diagnosis. This leads to reducing the overall load exerted to each doctor and promoting each doctor to make more quickly a proper diagnosis on only the physical information judged as being abnormal by the preliminary-diagnosis means.
According to a fifth feature of the present invention, each of the doctor-side devices comprises a reference-range changing means for transmitting, to the preliminary-diagnosis means, a second reference range proper for the patient and changing the first reference range proper for the patient to the second reference range proper for the patient, so that the preliminary-diagnosis means judges whether the piece of current physical information falls within the second reference range proper for the patient.
In the present remote diagnosis system, a doctor before each doctors-side device can operate the reference-range changing means to change the current reference range proper for each patient to a more appropriate reference range proper for each patient, so that the preliminary-diagnosis means judges whether each piece of physical information falls within the more appropriate reference range proper for each patient. Therefore, the preliminary-diagnosis means can make a more accurate preliminary diagnosis.
According to a sixth feature of the present invention, the patient-side device comprises a display device; and a display control means for controlling the display device to display the preliminary diagnosis made by the preliminary-diagnosis means.
The present remote diagnosis system enables the patient to from, from the preliminary diagnosis displayed on the display device, whether he or she should go and see a doctor to obtain a doctor""s proper diagnosis about his or her physical information.
According to a seventh feature of the present invention, the remote diagnosis system comprises a plurality of patient-side devices each of which includes at least one physical-information obtaining device which obtains at least one piece of current physical information from a corresponding one of a plurality of patients including the patient, the preliminary-diagnosis means comprises a memory device which stores, for each of the plurality of patients, at least one piece of past physical information which had been obtained by the physical-information obtaining device of a corresponding one of the plurality of patient-side devices, and the physical-information transmitting means transmits, to the doctor-side device, the piece of current physical information with the piece of past physical information stored for the patient in the memory device.
The present remote diagnosis system enables a doctor to make a proper diagnosis about the patient based on not only the piece of current physical information but also one or more pieces of past physical information. Therefore, the doctor can make a more accurate diagnosis on the patient.